I collect Kentucky's early firearms and powder horns and have seen or owned a lot of them. Recently an interesting Kentucky-related horn showed up on EBAY, and our host, Tim Crosby, made me aware of it. I purchased it but have not received it yet. I'm posting the seller's images, which he is OK with since he and I have discussed the horn and its provenance. I'd like to share a frontier effort to recreate a "high priced" York horn way out in Kentucky. In discussing the horn with the seller, he told me who had originally collected the horn "way back when" and what was known about the horn at that time. It originally came out of an old Graham family estate sale in Franklin County, Kentucky.
The name "Graham" probably doesn't resonate with non-Kentucky collectors, but to Kentucky collectors it's the name of a famous gunsmithing family in central Kentucky that lived in Franklin County. The senior William Graham was one of the first gunsmiths to work in the Bluegrass area, and several of his sons became gunsmiths. One son in particular, James M. Graham of Frankfort [state capitol] in Franklin Co., Kentucky, I believe was the maker of the "Davy Crockett" rifle at the Alamo signed "J. M. Graham." While I have not had that gun in hand, I have seen other Franklin Co. guns with the same moon inlays at the forestock wedge positions, and there is no other J. M. Graham gunsmith working at that time in any of our modern references. I don't really know what Graham family member owned this horn, but I think it was made in Franklin County by a craftsman who wanted to make a fine horn and had seen a York County horn at some time in his past... so he made a frontier version of it with KY's bulbous butt plug with integral nose button and raised ring for strap attachment on spout. We'll never know for sure the history of this horn, but it's fun to speculate... especially when we have small tid-bits of its history... and then we can fill in the rest to our liking!
Shelby Gallien
